U.S. Stocks Turn into Red Territory

U.S. stocks pared initial gains to turn sharply lower by mid-day trade on Friday as investors remain hesitant after two days of tumultuous trading sessions.

At last check, the DJIA edged down 0.22%; the NASDAQ Composite Index lost 0.84% while the S&P 500 Index fell 0.44%.

Shares of Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) plunged about 4% by midday trade after the social game maker’s stock was downgraded to “underweight” from “equalweight” by Morgan Stanley.

Shares of Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) slumped about 8% by midday trade. The enterprise software maker’s stock was downgraded by at least five brokerage firms on Friday after it posted lower-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter earnings. Revenue growth was also well below from company’s own initial guidance. Separately, Oracle Corp said that it will soon list itself on the New York Stock Exchange but the ticker will remain the same.

Shares of CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) edged down by midday trade in spite of better-than-expected fiscal first quarter results.

Shares of Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) ticked higher on Friday after the social networking giant unveiled its video-sharing feature for its popular app, Instagram on Thursday. The move is expected to drive up its revenue. According to a researcher EMarketer, videos are the most favored segment for online advertisers.

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.